Ben Aris in Istanbul
Fri, 10th May -- "The news is not good: there is no quick turnaround in sight." That was the conclusion of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's chief economist, Eric Berglof, at the multilateral lender's annual conference being held this year in Istanbul on May 10-11.

Anders Aslund
Fri, 3rd May -- The Ukrainian banking system has gone through persistent convulsions. A wave of West European purchases of Ukrainian banks just before the crisis of 2008-09 has been largely reversed. Instead, Russian and Ukrainian state banks have expanded, as have banks owned by people close to President Viktor Yanukovych.

bne
Mon, 29th Apr -- Much has been made of Russia's poor demographic situation and the problem of a shrinking population has been held up as the reason the country is doomed. But in an excellent piece, Forbes contributor Mark Adomanis points out that if Russia is doomed, then so are all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Sat, 27th Apr -- Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his own record with his longest ever annual Q&A "meet the people" press conference, where he laid out what is essentially a conservative platform.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Thu, 25th Apr -- Russia is making itself an irrelevance. It has been the fastest growing major economy in Europe and has none of the huge macroeconomic problems almost all the other countries on the Continent face, yet the stock market is down by nearly 10% this year already and was trading at the levels last seen at the end of 2009 at the time of writing.

Mehmet Gün of Mehmet Gün & Partners
Fri, 26th Apr -- As the rating agencies award Turkey its first investment grade rating in nearly 20 years, and analysts predict waves of increased foreign investment into the economy as asset values rise, Turkey is on the verge of becoming once more a global commercial and business hub.

bne
Mon, 15th Apr -- Why, if this "Magnitsky list" is clearly so useless in terms of what it purportedly is trying to achieve - force the Kremlin to improve human rights at home - did it become law in the first place?

Odd Per Brekk, IMF Senior Resident Representative Russia
Mon, 25th Mar -- What is the outlook for the Russian economy in 2013 and the medium term? The answer rests on two factors: what happens in the rest of the world and how successful the Russian government is in meeting the demand for deep structural reforms.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Mon, 18th Mar -- The decision by the Cypriot government to grab up to 9.9% of deposits in its banking system is the financial equivalent of the Magnitsky bill as far as the Kremlin is concerned.

Taras Kuzio in Washington DC
Fri, 15th Mar -- The EU-Ukraine negotiations is an exercise in doublethink. It is time for some plain speaking and for the EU to hold Ukraine's corrupt officials to account.

bne
Thu, 14th Mar -- An extremely embarrassing report released on March 13 by a state-controlled institution that claimed the ruling United Russia party actually lost the 2011 Duma elections to the Communists has prompted the Kremlin to respond by saying the author needs "psychiatric help."

bne
Thu, 14th Mar -- Slovenia's new PM has managed to cobble together a coalition with sufficient clout to push through much-needed reforms. But those parties that supported her nomination have already called for a delay in the passage of legislation that would have provided the framework for an accelerated privatisation porgramme.